Secrets
by Dingo32
Summary: Book 4 of the 'redeemer' series. Lex closes in on the second Veritas key, and why has he suddenly gotten both creepier and smarter? Doctor Rathaway begins experimenting with the military potential of Tayuya's DNA with unpredictable consequences. Tayuya finds that she will need to learn to control her temper if she is to face what lies ahead. And what secret is Bethany hiding?
1. Chapter 1

**Smallville/Naruto**

**Secrets**

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or Naruto; Smallville is owned by Warner Brothers television and its creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is based on 'Superman' created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Manga series' Naruto' is owned by its creator Masashi Kishimoto and all characters featured in Naruto are the property of said author, all Smallville characters are owned by DC comics.

This work is strictly for Fan enjoyment and no profit is derived from it.

Fanfiction Written by; Dean Donnell.

**Chapter 1**

Smallville High, the Principal's office.

_Feels strange to be back here, _Clark thought as he opened the door and looked inside, his little sister Tayuya was waiting inside and the Principal of the school as well.

The call from Tayuya's school had been unexpected, but not really surprising; in retrospect Clark realized that he probably should have seen this coming.

Given her past the young girl was likely to still have some anger management issues and that could easily lead to incidents like this.

It was actually surprising that this hadn't happened sooner.

In any case Clark seriously doubted that Tayuya had been the one to start what had happened, though from what Clark heard over the phone she had taken things too far.

_Not like I'm one to talk, _Clark thought as he caught Tayuya's defiant gaze _I've been known to lose it a time or two myself._

"I know what you're gonna say Clark," Tayuya told him defiantly, the very image of a rebellious teenager "the shi-creep deserved it."

"What did he do Tayu?" Clark asked with a sigh of resignation, obviously now was not the time to reprimand her for taking things too far, that would come later once she calmed down "did he touch you inappropriately?"

"Worse," Tayuya replied "he tried to feel _Bethany _up."

Clark looked to the opposite side of the door, catching sight of Tayuya's new friend Bethany St Michaels, Bethany nodded, confirming what Tayuya had said.

The other teenager's face was smeared with dirt, and her hair was mussed.

And why was she wearing those huge sunglasses indoors?

"Duncan McAlister is a pervert," Bethany stated flatly.

"Have a seat Mr Kent," Principal Wagner offered "that way we can discuss what happened properly."

"Thanks," Clark replied gratefully as he sat down "so Tayu, I know this Duncan guy was sexually harassing your friend, was that worth breaking his jaw over? Not to mention those three fingers of his that you also broke? And the two cracked ribs? And the other bruises and abrasions that you inflicted on him?"

"Yes," Tayuya replied flatly "it was worth it all right _nobody_ does that to my friends, besides he didn't just grab her tush Clark, when she pulled away and told him off for it he hit her."

"What?" Clark asked shocked, Tayuya's actions were almost understandable when that was taken into account.

Bethany slipped off the dark glasses, revealing that her left eye was badly bruised and swollen almost shut; in that moment Clark knew it for certain.

Duncan had deserved a punch on the jaw, but still-in her anger Tayuya had clearly taken things too far.

"Standing up for your friends is all very well," Principal Wagner told Tayuya sternly "but there is such a thing as excessive force; that is what has happened here, in any case I won't have violence in my school."

"Well then I hope you're punishing Duncan for what he did to Bethany," Clark noted "because this never would have happened had he kept his hands to himself, and hitting her like that was completely unacceptable."

"He will be brought in here as soon as the doctor has finished treating his injuries," Wagner assured Clark "he's facing expulsion for his actions, now what your sister is facing isn't quite as harsh but she did take things too far so I'm thinking about-oh-two weeks detention and if this happens again she will be required to attend anger management classes."

Tayuya's face fell at the mention of that.

_Still, _Tayuya thought to herself _it could be worse, Duncan's family could be suing for compensation, thanks Beth, I owe you one for that._

When Duncan's family had been in here earlier they had been threatening to sue Clark for everything he owned over what Tayuya had done, Bethany had stepped in and sweet as you please told them that if they didn't sue Clark for compensation then she wouldn't press charges against Duncan for sexual harassment and assault.

They had backed off quickly after that.

"Well it looks like I lose my lunch hour for the next two weeks," Tayuya muttered "and my Saturday mornings, thanks a lot Duncan."

"If you'd controlled your temper this wouldn't have happened," Principal Wagner told her sternly "maybe he did deserve a punch on the jaw but breaking bones is taking it too far."

"Yes sir," Tayuya finally relented "I'll try to watch my temper in future."

"Good," Wagner replied "you're free to go for now, just remember that your lunch hours and Saturday mornings belong to me for the next two weeks."

"Fine," Tayuya nodded "I'll be at the damn detention room when I'm supposed to."

"Two weeks detention," Tayuya muttered as she sat beside Clark in the family pickup truck hating herself for losing control like that "I know Clark, I took it too far, it's just-."

"You don't like to see people hurting your friends," Clark nodded with a sigh as he drove toward the Kent farm, school had let out by the time everything was sorted out so Clark was driving her home "I'm hardly one to criticise, I've been guilty of the same thing, but Tayu this is a serious matter, with your strength you could have killed him losing control like that, you may not be Kryptonian but you're still much stronger than a normal girl."

"You gonna lecture me Clark?" Tayuya asked "cos I don't wanna hear it right now, I know I screwed up okay."

"Damn right you did," Clark replied sternly "but I think Wagner's already lectured you enough on that."

"You're disappointed in me aren't you?"

"A little," Clark admitted "I do understand why you did what you did though."

"I'm sorry," Tayuya apologised "I'm trying to be a good girl but-."

"You are a good person Tayuya," Clark assured her "it's just that you have issues, it's funny you know."

"What's funny?" Tayuya asked, raising an eyebrow as she did.

"To look at you now it's easy to forget the way you used to be," Clark replied "and what you've been through, remember those things and it goes without saying that you'd have anger management issues."

"Think I should see a therapist?" Tayuya asked.

"Finding one who can keep the secret might be a problem," Clark replied "but you are getting better you know."

"I'll try to make you proud of me again Clark," Tayuya promised.

"You don't need to do that," Clark assured the young girl "the fact that I'm disappointed over one thing you did doesn't mean that I'm not still proud of you as a person."

"Thanks," Tayuya replied "I'll try not to disappoint you again."


	2. Chapter 2

**Smallville/Naruto**

**Secrets**

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or Naruto; Smallville is owned by Warner Brothers television and its creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is based on 'Superman' created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Manga series' Naruto' is owned by its creator Masashi Kishimoto and all characters featured in Naruto are the property of said author, all Smallville characters are owned by DC comics.

This work is strictly for Fan enjoyment and no profit is derived from it.

Fanfiction Written by; Dean Donnell.

**Chapter 2**

Cadmus Labs

Doctor Rathaway sat playing his favourite musical instrument while he waited for Mr Lex Luthor to arrive.

Since he had nothing else that he could do until then he figured he could pass the time by getting in a little practice, his instrument of choice was the clarinet.

As he heard the door to the lab open he put down the instrument and stood up to greet the visitor, none other than Alexander Luthor himself.

"Mr Luthor," Rathaway greeted the Luthor heir in a businesslike manner "I'm glad you saw fit to come here so quickly."

"I take it you found something useful doctor," Lex replied "obviously it must be good for you to feel secure enough to waste time playing music in work hours."

"There wasn't anything else I could do until you decide what to do with what I've discovered for you," Rathaway shrugged "I saw no harm in getting in some practice while I waited for you to arrive, it doesn't hurt to have an appreciation for good music after all."

"Perhaps not," Lex shrugged "as long as what you have discovered is as good as you say."

Rathaway found himself suppressing a shudder, for some reason Lex seemed much creepier today.

"I can assure you sir that this has quite a few potential uses," Rathaway replied with conviction "the girl that this blood sample comes from is quite obviously a metahuman of some kind."

"What abilities would she most likely have?" Lex asked.

"Superior speed and strength for starters," Rathaway replied "heightened intelligence also, and probably an ability to control others somehow via sound modulation."

"Such as the music of a flute," Lex realized "those who were at Black Creek reported that the only thing they could remember was some flute music, this has potential military applications, chiefly in espionage."

"I could extract the gene," Rathaway replied "after that it would be a simple matter to engineer a retrovirus to deliver that gene into a soldier's DNA, theoretically giving them that ability."

"Get to work on it immediately," Lex ordered "I want the serum ready for initial testing in one week or less."

"Yes Sir," Rathaway nodded.

Tayuya sat in her room brooding over what had happened earlier in the day.

She knew she should have been getting her homework done but her mind kept drifting back to the incident involving her, Bethany and Duncan and how she had lost it and beaten Duncan up quite severely for what he had done to Bethany.

At the time she had been consumed with rage and it hadn't registered that she was crossing the line, but now she was wracked with guilt.

Yes Duncan was a pervert and a bully and he probably deserved it when Tayuya had belted him one but it should have stopped there, instead she had seen red and hit him again several times breaking multiple bones.

Tayuya doubted that Duncan realized just how lucky he was to survive her wrath.

"Tayu," Clark's voice called from outside the door "are you in here?"

"Where else would I be Clark?" Tayuya responded in a clearly depressed tone.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure," Tayuya permitted "why not?"

The door opened and Clark walked in, sitting beside Tayuya on the bed, neither of the adoptive siblings spoke for a couple of minutes.

Eventually though Clark decided to break the silence.

"Sitting up here brooding isn't going to solve anything sis," he told her "why don't you come downstairs and talk to Lana and Kara, they're worried about you and so am I."

"I don't know if I can face them," Tayuya replied sadly "I fucked up bad Clark."

Tayuya held up her right hand, her thumb and forefinger less than a quarter inch apart.

"I came this close to killing someone today and staining my hands with even more blood."

"But you didn't kill him," Clark responded "you stopped yourself."

"You weren't fucking there Clark," Tayuya snapped "how the fuck would you know?"

"Because I know you," Clark replied "the only way someone like Duncan could have survived getting beaten up by you is if you let him survive, you realized what you were doing and stopped yourself it's the only reasonable explanation."

Clark paused for a moment before continuing.

"You know, I had a feeling that something like this was a possibility," he told the fiery teen "I'm actually surprised that it didn't happen sooner."

"But you still sent me there," Tayuya noted "why?"

"Because you deserve to have a normal childhood-what childhood you have left that is," Clark replied "and in the event that something like this happened I had faith that you'd stop yourself before you ended up doing anything too bad, of course I did think you'd stop yourself sooner than you did."

"I'll bet you never did anything like what I did today," Tayuya replied, her voice tinged with shame.

"You'd be surprised," Clark replied, drawing a raised eyebrow from Tayuya "back in high school Lana used to run a coffee shop called the Talon, which by the way is still open today, anyhow one night a couple of rednecks blow through town and stop in, when they get a look at Lana they both decide that they want more than just coffee."

"I get what you mean," Tayuya nodded with a slight frown "they were fucking perverts and they tried to get her into bed."

"Exactly," Clark replied with a nod "Lana of course made it plain that she wasn't interested, they wouldn't accept that, they pushed her around and then walked out, I came in just a half minute later and saw what had happened."

"I have a feeling I know what happened then," Tayuya replied.

"You probably do," Clark agreed "I followed them outside and delivered an ultimatum that they were not to set foot in the Talon again, being the idiots that they were they decided to be smart mouths about it, and then one of them made the mistake of calling Lana a bitch."

"Worst thing he could have done," Tayuya commented with a wince and a shake of her head "I take it that's when you beat the shit out of them."

"That would be about right," Clark nodded "one of them was lucky he didn't get his back busted after I threw him on the hood of that police car-and got arrested by Sheriff Adams. In any case they were both exaggerating their injuries in order to sue for compensation and take everything my folks owned until one of them made another pass at Lana-who had received some self-defence lessons in the meantime-and promptly got his ass handed to him."

"They backed off after another beating?" Tayuya asked in surprise "didn't they try to sue Lana as well?"

"Their macho pride was in tatters after that so no," Clark replied with a grin "guys like that don't seem to handle losing to a girl very well, kinda makes me wonder how Duncan is gonna handle getting beaten to a pulp by you. That might be the silver lining in this cloud."

"Anything happen else besides the lawsuit?" Tayuya asked.

"Well I ended up serving a week of community service as punishment," Clark replied with a shrug "all we can really do after we blow it like that is pick ourselves up and try to do better sis."


	3. Chapter 3

**Smallville/Naruto**

**Secrets**

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or Naruto; Smallville is owned by Warner Brothers television and its creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is based on 'Superman' created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Manga series' Naruto' is owned by its creator Masashi Kishimoto and all characters featured in Naruto are the property of said author, all Smallville characters are owned by DC comics.

This work is strictly for Fan enjoyment and no profit is derived from it.

Fanfiction Written by; Dean Donnell.

**Chapter 3**

The Luthorcorp building; Metropolis

Lionel Luthor paused in his work for a moment as he finished looking over another finance report related to his company's dealings, running his fingers through his hair.

He looked up abruptly as he heard footsteps in the doorway to his office and froze in surprise as he realized that his son Lex was standing there.

Lex had found him.

"I finally found you Dad," Lex remarked casually "you know I'm surprised that I didn't figure it out before, you avoid me by working at night instead of in the daytime and sleeping through the day in a hidden location, you have the blinds pulled in your office so that nobody in any of the surrounding buildings will see the light in your office and you work when nobody else is around so that they won't be able to give me any information that could help me track you down. Lately I seem to be seeing things so much clearer though and I put all of the pieces together."

"What do you want Lex?" Lionel asked in a wary voice.

"You know what I want," Lex replied forcefully.

"I don't," Lionel lied, he knew but he was still hoping to misdirect Lex and keep Clark safe.

"The other Veritas key father," Lex almost snarled "where is it?"

"Other Veritas key?" Lionel asked, still trying to feign ignorance and hopefully draw Lex off the scent "you have one already then? That can only mean-you killed Patricia Swann."

"You aren't exactly in a position to criticise my actions Dad," Lex replied evenly "considering that you yourself killed people to obtain the other key _now where is it?_"

"Lex-son, these keys are hardly worth killing anyone over," Lionel told his son "especially not a nice young lady like Patty Swann, why kill someone over what was just a bit of fun for us rich folk."

"Oh it was more than that Dad," Lex responded coldly as he stepped closer seeming more terrifying than he had ever been before, Lionel stood up from his desk and backed away, quickly finding himself with his back against the window with a forty floor drop on the other side "Veritas was created to safeguard an alien 'messiah' called the Traveller and those keys unlock the secret of a device that can control him, that's why you wanted them isn't it?"

Lex paused a moment observing something else.

"You know who the Traveller is don't you? Who is he? T_ell me._"

"What makes you think I would know that Lex?" Lionel asked fearfully "I'm in the dark about this as much as you are."

"_Don't lie to me father,_" Lex shouted angrily "it was no accident that we were in Smallville the day of the meteor shower, my life changed forever that day-you never looked at me the same again. You were going there to meet the Traveller-weren't you? Clark is the Traveller isn't he?"

"Lex," Lionel fumbled desperately as he tried this one last gambit "what if I were to tell you that _you _are the Traveller? Think about it, since the meteor shower you've hardly been sick a day in your life, and now you have a heightened intellect as well."

"You're lying again," Lex replied flatly, then his eyes narrowed as he caught sight of Lionel's locket as it slipped out of his shirt, without hesitation he tore it off of his father's neck "well at least I have the other key now."

Lionel swallowed nervously as Lex moved in closer knowing the inevitability of what was coming next.

"This has been a long time coming father," Lex told him calmly "I was raised in your shadow and now you're going to die in mine-no one will even remember your name."

Then Lex gave Lionel a hard shove sending him straight through the window and Lionel fell.

He fell forever.

At that very moment in a boarding house in Smallville Bethany St Michaels was eating dinner on her own in her meagre accommodations as she did her best not to aggravate her injured eye.

In order to pay for a place to live, clothes to wear and food to eat Bethany had been forced to take a weekend job, and she barely made ends meet on that money, in truth she didn't like to talk about her family because her family were the reason she was forced to live like this.

The food she was able to buy was a long way from gourmet fare, but at least it was better than living on the street and eating garbage like she could easily have ended up doing.

As Bethany speared another piece of carrot and raised it to her mouth she suddenly felt a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach and heard a crash like breaking glass in the back of her mind causing her to drop her fork onto the plate.

A chilling voice that bore portents of doom whispered in the back of her mind.

_Bald man with a soul of metal, he closes in on the keys._

**Replies to Reviews**

**jaelin910; no argument there it could be a **_**lot**_** worse especially if they were to for instance combine Canary's subsonic blast with Tayuya's musical Genjutsu with maybe a few genes from a certain Davis Bloome thrown in, although that isn't ruled out for later.**

**Oh and you'd be right that not as many read this as other stories but there's also the fact that of those who do take a look only a small percentage seem to leave reviews.**

**In any case, thanks for being one of the people who do review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Smallville/Naruto**

**Secrets**

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or Naruto; Smallville is owned by Warner Brothers television and its creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is based on 'Superman' created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Manga series' Naruto' is owned by its creator Masashi Kishimoto and all characters featured in Naruto are the property of said author, all Smallville characters are owned by DC comics.

This work is strictly for Fan enjoyment and no profit is derived from it.

Fanfiction Written by; Dean Donnell.

**Chapter 4**

7:00 AM in the room of a certain fiery redhead in the Kent household the silence was abruptly broken as the clock radio switched on and the voice of an obnoxious female shock jock blared from the speaker.

"_Good morning Kansas_," the shock jock practically yelled out of the speaker "_it's that time again and Leslie 'The Livewire' Willis is here to brighten up your morning and speak some truths about people in the public eye, or in today's case those who avoid it._"

Tayuya cracked one eye open as she awoke casting a glare at the clock radio.

"Leslie fucking Willis," she muttered distaste obvious in her voice "why is that shit still on the air?"

"_What is the deal with all these so called 'superheroes' coming out of the woodwork these days?"_ Willis asked "_or more accurately what is the deal with the way folks seem to worship them?_"

"Maybe because those superheroes are actually doing some good in society you stupid bitch," Tayuya muttered as she got out of bed and started changing into her street clothes.

"_Heroes?-Hah, vigilantes I call em and even that's too kind."_

"What a fucking stupid bitch of a shock jock," Tayuya said to no one in particular as she finished changing.

"_Seriously people wake up,_" Willis continued to rant "_you're being lied to; nobody is that nice for free._"

"You mean _you_ aren't," Tayuya muttered as she reached over and hit the snooze button "just shut the fuck up already."

Running her fingers through her long red hair Tayuya picked up her school bag and headed downstairs as she got to the bottom of the staircase she heard the sound of the front door opening, a moment later she heard Clark speaking.

"Lois," Clark's voice drifted to her ears, and Tayuya could clearly catch the slight teasing undertone "I wish I could say I was happy to see you but we both know I'd be lying."

"Keep the sarcasm to yourself Smallville," a female voice that could only be this Lois Lane that Tayuya had heard about replied "this is important, a certain Lionel Luthor who you happen to know took a swan dive from forty floors up last night."

Tayuya walked toward the front door, she had to find out more about this-chances were Lex Luthor was behind it; Clark and the woman known as Lois Lane came into view just as Clark found his voice to speak again.

"Is there any evidence of foul play?" Clark asked.

"None," Lois replied with a shrug "the investigators have ruled it a suicide."

"Did they happen to find a-locket on his person?" Tayuya asked as she walked closer.

"They didn't find anything like that," Lois replied as she turned in Tayuya's direction "it's funny when Patricia Swann was murdered I suspected that Lionel was behind it, I guess the guilt got to him-who would have thought a man like that actually had a heart?"

_No locket, _Tayuya thought grimly _that means that Lex WAS behind this, and now he knows that Lionel didn't have the other key he's gonna start checking out Clark and all of us until he finds it._

From the look in Clark's eyes as he looked back at Tayuya apparently he had come to the same conclusion.

"I'm guessing that you're Tayuya right?" Lois asked conversationally, then one corner of her mouth quirked up in a smile "Clark's newly adopted little sister who curses every second word."

"And you must be Lois Lane," Tayuya retorted; a smirk forming on her own face "the woman who never shuts up and is always looking for ways to annoy people."

"I don't look for ways to annoy everybody," Lois denied "just Clarkie here."

"Clarkie?" Tayuya asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't ask," Clark insisted, raising his hands in front of him as he did.

"Well if you won't tell her maybe I should Smallville" Lois offered.

"No," Clark insisted.

"It's like this," Lois began "when Clark here first brought Shelby into this house-."

"_Lois,_" Clark snapped "that's enough if you breathe a word of that story to my little sister I'll start pestering Chloe for the most embarrassing story regarding you that she can remember and write it up for Ollie's enjoyment."

"Fine-you win" Lois relented.

Now Tayuya was really curious.

"You should be getting ready for school Tayu" Clark reminded the young girl "you don't want to end up getting even more detention."

"Right" Tayuya realized "shit-the last thing I want is to be late."

"Got in trouble at school?" Lois asked.

"I kinda lost my temper and beat the shit out of the school bully yesterday," Tayuya confirmed as she rushed to get her breakfast.

"I can relate," Lois nodded as she and Clark followed the young girl inside "I used to get in trouble at school all the time."

"Or you would have if had you actually bothered to attend school," Clark corrected her "most of the time you got caught out for absenteeism."

"I attended" Lois insisted defensively.  
"Yeah," Clark replied with a grin "like about ten percent of the time."

"Why don't you two just get married already?" Tayuya remarked dryly.

Clark made a face and shuddered at the thought.

"Ugh, don't suggest things like that sis," he begged drawing a chuckle from Tayuya.

"You're not that bad Smallville," Lois remarked "I could tolerate being married to you if I really had to."

"I was talking about you Lois," Clark replied "you're not exactly easy to get along with."

Tayuya smirked, listening to the banter with half an ear as she poured the milk over her Wheaties.

_This is the best morning entertainment ever;_ Tayuya thought to herself _beats the shit out of the fucking 'Livewire'_.


	5. Chapter 5

**Smallville/Naruto**

**Secrets**

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or Naruto; Smallville is owned by Warner Brothers television and its creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is based on 'Superman' created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Manga series' Naruto' is owned by its creator Masashi Kishimoto and all characters featured in Naruto are the property of said author, all Smallville characters are owned by DC comics.

This work is strictly for Fan enjoyment and no profit is derived from it.

Fanfiction Written by; Dean Donnell.

**Chapter 5**

Clark took a breath to steady himself as he arrived at the crime scene outside the Luthorcorp building in Metropolis, Kara was standing alongside him.

"I don't understand it," Kara told Clark with a shake of her head "Lionel was on our side after all, he proved that by giving the second key to Chloe and by risking his life and ultimately dying to protect us-but he still locked you in that cage?"

"Lionel was-disturbed," Clark told his cousin "the fact that he was trying to make amends didn't change that, in his mind trapping me in that cage was the only way to keep me safe but in the end it actually put you and I in more danger."

"But I don't get why he didn't see that it would do that," Kara remarked gesturing with both hands for emphasis "the kryptonite alone should have been a clue to what would happen if he put you in there and then there's who the psycho he had guarding you used to work for, if he'd thought about it he would have realized that would happen."

"That's it exactly Kara," Clark replied grimly "he wasn't thinking."

As they approached the crime scene the two cousins could see that the area was still taped off while the investigators checked carefully to make sure they had a clear picture of what had happened.

The body had been removed hours ago.

"Looks like Lex found his father" Chloe remarked as she stepped up beside the two "before Patricia's prowler I probably would have thought this was a suicide like everybody else, Lionel was beyond disturbed after all."

"Not disturbed enough to kill himself," Clark corrected his friend "he and Lex are both far too tenacious to give up that easily."

"Unfortunately Lex has a pretty good alibi," Chloe noted "namely that he was working late just down the hall from Lionel, apparently his aide Gina has confirmed it for him and stated that she never saw him leave his office until he heard a crash of breaking glass from Lionel's office."

"That does make it hard to prove what Lex did," Clark agreed solemnly "Gina must be pretty loyal to Lex to do something like that, after all if someone does manage to prove what Lex did then she could be held as an accessory to murder."

"Well one thing is certain," Kara noted "we're not going to learn anything down here."

"We should try Lionel's office," Clark decided with a nod of agreement.

It took less than a minute to reach Lionel Luthor's office on the fortieth floor, super speed made bypassing security much easier than it otherwise would have been and so Clark, Kara and Chloe arrived without incident.

As the three entered the room Clark reflected that it certainly seemed in keeping with the tastes of the man who had worked there; an expensive impressionistic sculpture stood a few feet from one wall, CDs of classical music sat on the desk, a reading lamp stood behind to provide light when needed.

The surface of the desk was polished black glass.

Other than that it seemed stark-sterile, but that also was in keeping with Luthor tastes.

A steel security door was set into a wall of polished metal on the same wall as the sculpture, clearly the door to the vault.

The only thing out of place was the smashed window and the police tape warning against passing through it.

"Not entirely sterile but not warm and friendly either," Chloe observed "just what I'd expect from a Luthor."

Kara's attention seemed to be drawn to the security door.

"Clark," Kara called out to her cousin "if we're looking for answers in here would be a good place to start, I can get this open easily."

"No ripping it open," Clark told Kara sternly, drawing a chuckle from Chloe as he did "we don't want anybody to know we were here, let's just try and find the combination for that door, super speed should make that process a lot faster."

"Now you're a safe cracker?" Chloe asked in surprise "did you learn that in Konoha?"

"No," Clark replied with a shake of his head "this would be the one good thing that came of my three months on red K, now if you two could be quiet for a minute I need to concentrate."

Thirty seconds passed of Clark trying every possible combination systematically at super speed until finally there was a loud clank as the door unlocked, Clark turned the handle and opened the door and the three walked inside.

Most of what was inside the vault was priceless antiques, obviously worth a lot of money to the right collector; vases, urns and teapots all made of the finest porcelain and jewellery boxes crafted of precious metals or expensive wood all sitting on shelves set around the walls of the vault.

There were other items all well all of them obviously very valuable.

One item however caught the eye of Kara and she wasted no time bringing it to the attention of Clark.

It was sitting behind an original edition of 'Beyond Good and Evil' written by Friedrich Nietzsche which was ensconced in a glass display case.

The object itself was an octagonal cylinder of polished metal with distinctly Kryptonian writing carved into its surface, Clark picked it up and read the script which lit up as he did so.

"'For Kal El in the event of my death'."

"Lionel left this for you," Chloe remarked "the ends look like they're meant to turn and lock in place to activate it, a message maybe."

"There's only one way to know," Clark decided as he reached his free hand for one of the ends.

"Wait Clark," Kara stopped him with a hand on his shoulder "don't activate it just yet, let's wait until all three of us are present you, me and Tayuya; Tayu's as much a part of this family as you or I, she deserves to know what this message says."

"You're right," Clark agreed "I just hope what it says isn't too alarming."


	6. Chapter 6

**Smallville/Naruto**

**Secrets**

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or Naruto; Smallville is owned by Warner Brothers television and its creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is based on 'Superman' created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Manga series' Naruto' is owned by its creator Masashi Kishimoto and all characters featured in Naruto are the property of said author, all Smallville characters are owned by DC comics.

This work is strictly for Fan enjoyment and no profit is derived from it.

Fanfiction Written by; Dean Donnell.

**Chapter 6**

"Argh, stupid pen," Tayuya complained as she strained to reach the biro she had lost under the wheelchair ramp outside the main building of the school "come here damn it I have to be at my next class in five minutes and I can't show up without something to write with, you just _had _to fall out of my pocket and roll under the stupid ramp didn't you?"

Tayuya strained to reach the damn thing but her arm just wasn't long enough, she wanted to simply tear the damn ramp from the ground to get at the pen underneath and she was quite capable of doing so, but that wouldn't do either it'd attract too much unwanted attention.

Not to mention it would also get her more time in the detention room.

"C'mon fu-damn it." Tayuya growled, she'd almost laid a fingertip on the damn thing, if four inches short counted as 'almost', this was really starting to piss her off.

The sound of a wolf whistle caught Tayuya's attention.

Pausing for a moment she pulled her hand out from under the wood and steel ramp and sat back up glancing behind her Tayuya caught sight of a couple of football jocks staring at her.

"If you two perverts are done staring at my ass maybe one of you could damn well give me a hand getting my pen back," Tayuya suggested.

"Too busy admiring the view," one of them replied.

Tayuya's eyes narrowed dangerously, her teeth began to grind in irritation and her left eye started to twitch, the other jock apparently noticed this and realized what it portended to.

"Um-we were just leaving," he told the irate redhead as he grabbed his companion's arm and began to drag him away, whispering urgently to him as he did "c'mon man- do you wanna be the next Duncan?"

_Great, _Tayuya thought in irritation _if I'd just ignored the lechery I might've gotten one of them to help me but I just HAD to scare the shit out of them-me and my temper._

"Need a hand?" a familiar voice asked.

"Beth?" Tayuya noted as she took in the sight of her recently acquired best friend Bethany "I appreciate the offer but the biro I lost under there is too far away for me to reach so I'm guessing it's too far for you too."

"Oh you'd be surprised," Bethany replied as she bent down and reached under the ramp.

At that moment Tayuya was sure she felt something flicker in the edge of her awareness; then Bethany stood up holding the pen.

"What?-How?" Tayuya asked in surprise, no _way _were Bethany's arms long enough to reach that.

"Magic trick," Bethany replied with a shrug as Tayuya took the pen.

"You _are _full of surprises," Tayuya remarked as she took the pen and headed off "thanks Beth, I gotta get to the detention room now."

"Anytime," Bethany called after her.

_What the hell WAS that? _Tayuya wondered, her brow furrowed in confusion as she puzzled over what had just happened _when Bethany knelt to reach under I could've sworn I felt a surge of chakra coming from her, then she just stands up again holding the pen, but she's no shinobi; I would've sensed it if she was__._

It was a puzzle; that much was certain.

_Just what are you Beth? _Tayuya wondered.

Lex was sitting in his living room in the Luthor mansion, a fire crackling in the hearth nearby, the locket that should have contained the second key gripped in his hand.

_Should have_ contained the second key.

Things were not going according to plan.

The sound of the door opening was heard followed by a hesitant tapping.

"Mr Luthor?" Gina called quietly "I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry it came to that with your father, if it's any consolation I think the investigators believed me when I backed up your alibi."

"So am I," Lex replied after a moment's silence "I remember him taking me to DC once, I thought he was just dragging me along on another business trip, but he took me on a trip to the air and space museum instead, he knew I loved things that could fly."

Lex took a breath before continuing.

"We Saw the Apollo 11 Command module while we were there, my father held my hand and he told me that the right man could make anything possible."

"Remembering things like that must have made what you had to do much harder," Gina noted "but you got the key, and despite his redeeming qualities your father was still a cruel and sadistic man."

"What are you saying?" Lex asked in confusion.

"No one will ever know or be able to prove anything," Gina promised "I'll see to it personally Lex."

"Thank you Gina," Lex replied gratefully "but unfortunately I didn't get the key, the locket was empty, he must have already given it to someone else."

"Maybe the Traveller," Gina suggested thoughtfully.

"Or one of his friends," Lex replied "since I'm reasonably sure that Clark is the Traveller I'd like you to start checking out everybody he knows until you determine which one has the key."

"Yes Mr Luthor," Gina replied with a nod as she moved to carry out his instructions repressing a shiver at how much colder he seemed since that strange incident at the Isis foundation.

Gina exited the room leaving Lex alone with his thoughts.

_You killed Dad for a necklace? _Lex recognized the voice in his head, it had spoken to him; in his imagination at any rate after he had officially identified his father's body, it had been his own voice when he was younger.

"You're not real," Lex told the voice as he picked up the glass of scotch he had left on the coffee table and took a much needed sip.

_He may have been mean sometimes but he loved us, _the voice continued.

_Oh shut up you brat, _retorted another voice in Lex's head, this one older but no less familiar and far more chilling.

"Milton Fine?" Lex asked in shock "I must be losing it, get out of my head both of you.

_You shouldn't have done it, _Lex's 'younger self' shouted.

"I had no choice," Lex shouted back about to throw his glass at the imagined vision of the younger 'Alexander', but before he could carry through on this 'Fine' spoke again.

_And I'm sure he's sick of your whining._

"Get-out-of –my-head," Lex told both of the voices flatly "GET OUT."


	7. Chapter 7

**Smallville/Naruto**

**Secrets**

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or Naruto; Smallville is owned by Warner Brothers television and its creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is based on 'Superman' created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Manga series' Naruto' is owned by its creator Masashi Kishimoto and all characters featured in Naruto are the property of said author, all Smallville characters are owned by DC comics.

This work is strictly for Fan enjoyment and no profit is derived from it.

Fanfiction Written by; Dean Donnell.

**Chapter 7**

As soon as Chloe entered the Daily Planet she was met at the door by Jimmy Olsen.

"Chloe," Jimmy greeted her, his voice a mixture of happiness and relief "I'm glad I caught up to you, there's something you really need to see."

"I wish I had time Jimmy," Chloe replied regretfully "but right now I'm trying to figure out how to write the piece on Lionel Luthor's suicide-except that I don't think it _was _suicide."

"That's what I need to show you," Jimmy insisted "Lois and I just stumbled onto some proof that Lionel was murdered."

Chloe regarded Jimmy thoughtfully for a moment, surprise evident on her face, after a few seconds she spoke.

"Lead the way."

As Chloe followed after Jimmy she found herself wondering about what kind of proof Lois and Jimmy could have stumbled onto, it had to be some kind of photographic evidence.

But when was Jimmy snapping pictures somewhere that his camera might capture evidence of foul play?

As it turned out Chloe didn't have long to wait for her answer.

On the screen of the computer Jimmy had led Chloe to was a digital photograph of Lois looking at a memo in Lex's office at the Daily Planet building.

"Lois hasn't given up on the Patricia Swann murder story," Jimmy explained "she wanted to sneak into Luthorcorp again and check around Lionel's office for proof that he was behind Swann's murder, I convinced her that we should check Lex's office here first in case the younger Luthor was to blame and so she looked through the memos on his desk while I photographed the entire office in case the camera picked up any clues that Lois missed."

"Okay," Chloe acknowledged with a nod "so what's so special about this picture?"

"That would be the hidden proof of foul play involved in Lionel's death," Jimmy replied with a smirk that was reminiscent of a bloodhound that has just caught the scent of a rabbit "watch what happens when I zoom in on the window behind your bossy cousin."

As Jimmy zoomed in on that portion of the photograph it quickly became clear what was so special about this picture, the indistinct image in the background clearly depicted one person in the act of pushing another person out of a window.

"This would definitely make our case in court," Chloe decided "the person getting pushed out the window can only be Lionel Luthor, but we have to identify the other person in the picture to have an admissible case."

"That's where you come in," Jimmy replied with a smirk "the computers here at the Planet aren't powerful enough to clear up this image and you're the only person I know of who is good enough with a computer to pull it off, I'd suggest using the computers at Isis except that-."

"Except that Isis is out of commission," Chloe stated, finishing Jimmy's sentence for him "all isn't lost though, I do have some connections at S.T.A.R. Labs, I'm sure I can talk Emil into letting me use one of their supercomputers."

"You could?" Jimmy asked in surprise "that'd be great."

"I'll get back to you when I have something," Chloe promised.

Tayuya sighed to herself as she sat in the detention room watching her lunch hour pass by while she was stuck inside.

_I'm bored out of my skull, _the young kunoichi thought to herself _I guess that's part of the punishment fucked up as that is._

She might have used the time to get in some target practise with a few kunai except that students weren't allowed to bring weapons to school.

Probably just as well as far as the Duncan incident went though.

Of course she was still allowed to bring her flute, but that was because very few people knew that she could use that particular musical instrument as a weapon.

_I guess I got my music to pass the time; _Tayuya decided as she pulled out her flute and began to play a soft haunting melody.

She had been playing for nearly a minute when she felt eyes on her from the other side of the room, Tayuya's brown eyes flicked in the direction of the room's other occupant, a well-built teenage boy who looked like he was born to play football she stopped playing.

"Don't stop on my account," the young man implored her "it's amazing how good you are with that flute; maybe you should join the school band."

"My music is too personal for that," Tayuya responded with a shake of her head "I use it as a way to express things that I need to get off my chest but don't want to express in a more normal way, I do occasionally play for others when I feel like it, but not today."

"Oh," the young man replied in surprised understanding "anyway, I'm Jason Saunders, and my passion is football, what about you?"

"Tayuya Kent," Tayuya replied "and I think you can guess what my passion is."

"Music," Jason replied with a nod and a smirk "I guess I can't expect to see you on the cheer squad then?"

"Are you kidding?" Tayuya snapped irritably "I have better thing to do than parade around in a skimpy outfit waving pompoms like a complete harlot. I have enough trouble keeping horny guys off me as it is, like your two football friends earlier today who were too busy checking out my booty to help me retrieve my biro from beneath the wheelchair ramp."

"I think I know the two guys you mean" Jason replied with a frown, apparently he didn't like them much "those two are the whole reason I'm in here."

"Oh?" Tayuya asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yyyeah," Jason drawled "I got so pissed off with one of them for ogling everything female that moved that I kind of-treated him like a football."

Tayuya tried not to laugh at that she really did but it was just too damn funny and after a few seconds she couldn't hold it in anymore as she cracked up, pounding her fist on the desktop and only just managing to keep her strength under control.

"I'm sorry," Tayuya apologized as she regained her composure "I just got this mental picture of you drop kicking one of those shitheads down the football field."

"You sure you should be using language like that in school?" Jason asked as he apparently fought a little to hold in his own laughter.

"Meh," Tayuya replied "I couldn't give a shit, it's not like the teachers can hear me right now."

"I guess not" Jason conceded with a shrug "so what are you in here for?"

"You remember what happened to Duncan McAlister yesterday?"

"Yeah?" Jason replied with a nod "most of the school knows that the S.O.B. got his just desserts."

"Well," Tayuya replied "I'm the girl who beat him up."

"So why the hell did they give you detention for that?" Jason asked disbelievingly "I heard what he was doing to Bethany St Michaels shortly before you decked him, the girl bashing bastard."

"Because I took it too far," Tayuya replied her gaze downcast "I put him in the hospital Jason, I shouldn't have done it but I lost my temper and that's what happened."

"I see," Jason replied quietly "it seems we're both a couple of hotheads."

For a long time after that nothing was said but after a time the music of a flute was heard again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Smallville/Naruto**

**Metal Scourge**

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or Naruto; Smallville is owned by Warner Brothers television and its creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is based on 'Superman' created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Manga series' Naruto' is owned by its creator Masashi Kishimoto and all characters featured in Naruto are the property of said author, all Smallville characters are owned by DC comics.

This work is strictly for Fan enjoyment and no profit is derived from it.

Fanfiction Written by; Dean Donnell.

**Chapter 8**

Clark cast a look in Kara's direction as they both regarded Tayuya where she was still embedded in the concrete wall finally he let out a sigh.

"Well we should at least get her down from there," Clark remarked sadly "give her some dignity in death at least even if it's too late to save her."

"Yeah," Kara agreed "give her a decent burial, this hurts you know, I liked her and I was just getting to know her."

"I know what you mean," Clark nodded "what am I going to tell Mom?"

"That Brainiac killed Tayuya" Kara replied, still struggling to hold back tears as she walked toward the still suspended girl "Brainiac's been destroyed now so her death has been avenged at least."

"I guess so," Clark agreed as he followed her "but I just seem to keep losing people I care about I want it to stop."

"I know how you feel Clark" Kara agreed "sometimes I wish that-."

Kara trailed off, freezing in place as she seemed to listen attentively to something.

"What is it?" Clark asked, is voice thick with worry.

_Please dear god don't let Brainiac still be functional, _Clark begged silently.

"Clark," Kara asked her cousin as her face suddenly lit up "do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Clark asked as he brought his super hearing to bear, then he heard it too and realization struck "a heartbeat-she's still alive-how?"

"I don't know," Kara replied "it's a miracle, it has to be."

"We have to get Tayuya down from there," Clark decided "gently; we don't want to aggravate any injuries she might have."

Kara nodded as they both rushed to where Tayuya was still embedded in the wall and began carefully chipping away the broken cement still holding the unconscious girl in place until Clark was able to carefully lift her out of the shattered cement wall and gently lay her on the floor.

Clark dialed Chloe's number and held the phone to his ear with his left hand as he gently brushed concrete dust out of his little sister's hair with his right hand, carefully brushing a few strands of hair out of her face as he did.

After a few moments Chloe answered, Clark quickly filled her in on the situation and she instructed Clark to get Tayuya to her apartment promising that she would be there to meet them.

"Hang in there sis," Clark implored the young girl as he hung up the phone "we'll get you to Chloe's place and she'll heal you up just fine, you'll be good as new."

"No broken bones," Kara remarked having apparently checked for those things with her X-Ray vision "she has a concussion but that's all-it's a miracle."

"Its chakra armor," Tayuya corrected her cousin in a tiny whisper as she began to regain consciousness.

Clark stopped brushing his little sister's hair and started to pull his hand away.

"Don't stop Clark," Tayuya begged "keep doing what you were doing, it feels nice and it helps take the headache away."

"You gave us both a big scare there sis," Clark told Tayuya as he started gently brushing her hair and her forehead again "Kara and I really thought you had died for a few minutes there."

"I'm not that easy to get rid of bro," Tayuya replied, smiling weakly as she did "did we get the fucker?"

"Yeah we got him little sister," Clark assured her as he picked her up bridal style as gently as he could "he's scrap he'll never hurt anybody again, and before you ask our non-killing policy only applies to people, not machines."

"In short the Tin Man got fried," Kara remarked "high voltage tends to do that to delicate circuitry."

"Of course that wouldn't have worked if you and Kara hadn't weakened him first," Clark added.

"Tayuya did a solid chunk of the weakening," Kara noted.

"I guess having a Kekkei Genkai that allows me to use music as a weapon can be useful," Tayuya noted "but we already knew that."

"Your music based genjutsu is a Kekkei Genkai?" Clark asked "that's pretty cool actually."

"Uh huh" Tayuya agreed "it's a super cool Kekkei Genkai found only in a select few members of the Fuma clan, my mother came from the Fuma clan."

"I didn't know that," Clark noted "in any case we need to get you to Chloe's place so she can patch you up little sis."

"I guess you callin me little sis aint so bad," Tayuya relented with a sigh "just don't call me cute okay?"

Clark nodded as he and Kara went to super speed.

Doctor Rathaway waited patiently as his genetic analysis devices finished their preliminary sequencing of the mystery girl's DNA, after several hours working they had completed their first analysis of the genetic material.

As the results were displayed on the screen Rathaway's eyes widened behind his glasses, what he was seeing was simply astounding, the DNA was human, but with certain genetic mutations that would likely create superior speed and strength as well as increased brain function, most notably in those parts of the brain responsible for sound perception, speech, and creative thinking.

Another gene in this girl's genetic code bore passing resemblance to one on record, this other gene had been found in an individual by the name of Mikhail Myxzsptlk, who had a voice that could influence the actions of others, the girl's gene wasn't exactly the same but it would likely produce a similar ability.

Rathaway felt a smile form on his face as he regarded the information the computer was showing him.

"Remarkable, truly remarkable."


	9. Chapter 9

**Smallville/Naruto**

**Secrets**

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or Naruto; Smallville is owned by Warner Brothers television and its creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is based on 'Superman' created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Manga series' Naruto' is owned by its creator Masashi Kishimoto and all characters featured in Naruto are the property of said author, all Smallville characters are owned by DC comics.

This work is strictly for Fan enjoyment and no profit is derived from it.

Fanfiction Written by; Dean Donnell.

**Chapter ****9**

Tayuya nodded slowly as she processed what Mercer had just told her it made sense when she thought about it.

"So Beth is psychic," Tayuya noted "it does explain a lot of things about her, doesn't change my feelings toward her though."

"It doesn't?" Mercer asked, one eyebrow raised in surprise.

"Of course not," Tayuya with an icy glare in Tess Mercer's direction "it's just the way she is, there's nothing wrong with it, I am a little hurt that she didn't share this with me though."

_Not that I'm one to be throwing stones, _Tayuya added silently _but Mercer doesn't need to know that._

"How sweet," Mercer remarked sarcastically "but you're going to have to say goodbye to your little friend now."

"I see that there's no way I can stop you," Tayuya sighed in apparent defeat "but can I make one request?"

"Okay," Mercer replied, her gaze seeming to soften momentarily.

Maybe this woman wasn't as heartless as she appeared.

"If you're going to drag my friend away I'd like to play one last song for her on my flute," Tayuya requested, fighting to keep a smirk off of her face "think of it as my way of saying goodbye."

Mercer held Tayuya's gaze for a long moment, and for that time Tayuya was terrified that she was going to see through her ruse, but after a time the older redhead nodded in acceptance.

"Sounds reasonable enough, but make it quick."

_Oh it'll be quick you bitch, _Tayuya thought to herself as she pulled out her flute and began to play _don't you worry about that sucker._

Tayuya wasted no time at all pouring her genjutsu into the music, and 'The Ever Growing Slumber' quickly lived up to it's name as Mercer and her goons fought to stay awake.

Mercer appeared to realise what was happening as she fumbled for a weapon that was apparently concealed on her person, but it was too late, she was caught.

A moment later Tess Mercer and her goons were passed out on the ground, they would remain that way for the next hour or so.

Tayuya quickly moved over To Bethany's side and carefully removed the Tazer electrode from her neck, then checked for a pulse.

A sigh of relief issued from Tayuya's lips as she was quickly able to locate a pulse, it was a little weak but it was there, a quick check to make sure that Bethany was still breathing confirmed that she was.

_Good, _Tayuya thought to herself as relief washed over her _Beth's still alive-she's in rough shape though; seriously what kind of idiot shoots the electrode into someone's neck when tazering them for capture._

In any case Tayuya was not about to let a bunch of goons drag her friend away to be dissected, but to stop that from happening she needed information.

_Now lets find out who you work for Mercer,_ Tayuya thought to herself as she walked over to her comatose enemy and began searching through her pockets until she found the clue she was looking for.

Tayuya carefully looked over what she had found.

_This is a Luthorcorp ID, _Tayuya observed as all the pieces clicked into place _Lex, Mercer works for Lex Luthor, poor Beth must have escaped from Black Creek._

"You're lucky I don't kill people anymore you bitch," Tayuya muttered in Tess Mercer's direction as she turned away and picked up her comatose friend in her arms, fetching Bethany's school bag with one hand as she did.

_Hmm, _Tayuya mused _well obviously we can't go on the bus like this, it'd attract way too much attention, the hospital is also out, although Beth does look like she could use a doctor, we'll just have to trust Emil on that one but Lex's goons are bound to be checking the hospitals after this. Taking her back to her own place is out too, no doubt Lex has figured out where she lives, she should be safe at the farm, at least for a while, but I'm gonna have to get her there under my own power._

Taking a moment to check and sense around Tayuya made sure that nobody was watching.

_Good, I'm alone, now for some ninja speed._


	10. Chapter 10

**Smallville/Naruto**

**Secrets**

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or Naruto; Smallville is owned by Warner Brothers television and its creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is based on 'Superman' created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Manga series' Naruto' is owned by its creator Masashi Kishimoto and all characters featured in Naruto are the property of said author, all Smallville characters are owned by DC comics.

This work is strictly for Fan enjoyment and no profit is derived from it.

Fanfiction Written by; Dean Donnell.

**Chapter ****10**

As soon as Tayuya reached the front door of the farmhouse she shifted the still unconscious Bethany in her arms so that she could get a hand free and opened the door, walking inside she pushed the door shut with her shoulder.

"Clark, Kara," the young former Kunoichi now superhero in training called out to her adoptive family "we've got a bit of a situation here, I think you'd better call Chloe, oh and call Emil while you're at it."

"What is it Tayu?" Clark asked as he met his adopted sibling in the entrance to the living room, noticing Tayuya's passenger he added "well now I know why you want me to call Emil. What happened to Bethany?"

"She was attacked and Tazered in the neck by a bunch of goons working for Luthorcorp," Tayuya answered "they were led by some woman named Tess Mercer, it turns out that Beth is psychic and from this way she has of knowing things I'd say that one of her abilities would have to be precognition, and maybe telekinesis as well."

"If Luthorcorp knows about her she probably escaped from Black Creek," Clark noted as he walked to the phone in the kitchen and dialled Emil Hamilton's number.

"That's what I was thinking," Tayuya agreed as she carefully laid her friend down on the couch and headed after Clark "poor Bethany, she said her parents died a few years back and the rest of her family don't care about her; maybe her folks were murdered by the bastards Lex sent to capture her."

"It's a valid theory," Kara agreed as she entered the room "we need to keep her safe until we can get Lex off her back, Chloe called a while ago to say that Emil has agreed to let her use one of the server farms at S.T.A.R. Labs to clear up that incriminating photograph of Lionel's murder."

"Good," Tayuya nodded as Clark talked with Emil on the phone in the background, requesting his help at the Kent farm as soon as possible "if the bastard's behind bars he can't hurt my friend as easily, or my brother for that matter, or you."

"Emil says he'll be here as soon as possible," Clark informed them as he briefly moved the phone away from his ear "Chloe will keep working on clearing up that photo so that we can put Lex away for good."

"I should go keep her safe," Tayuya suggested as the three of them moved out into the kitchen "Lex might send someone to get rid of the evidence she's uncovered, and maybe to get rid of Chloe herself, but I'm loathe to leave Beth by herself."

"She'll have two Kryptonians protecting her," Clark pointed out.

"That is good protection," Tayuya agreed "but what if the goons from Luthorcorp use Kryptonite?"

"I think it might be time to call in a favour from Konoha," Kara suggested.

"I can super speed you to S.T.A.R. Labs," Clark offered "then have Emil fire up the dimensional transporter, summon help from Konoha and super speed Emil and our backup back here."

"Okay, sounds like a plan," Tayuya agreed, then she noticed the package sitting on the kitchen table "what's that?"

"Ollie dropped it off for you earlier," Clark replied as he put the phone back against his ear "Emil,did you get all that."

Tayuya just managed to catch the sound of a confirmation on the other end of the line.

"Good," Clark replied "I'll be there shortly."

"Let's see what's inside," Tayuya decided as she walked up and opened the package, catching sight of what was inside she smiled "sweet, he's had a costume made for me, let's see, black hooded cloak, black domino mask, fingerless gloves, boots, bodysuit, utility belt, he even included a tazer version of my kunai, how sweet of him."

"Should be useful," Clark agreed.

"Yeah," Tayuya replied as she opened the envelope taped to the wrapping paper and read the letter inside "Dear Tayuya; given that you are considering the path of a superhero as your life's path I figured that the contents of this parcel would be useful to you-."

"They might at that," Clark agreed.

Tayuya continued reading.

"The red pocket on the utility belt contains thermite,the blue one contains C4 plastic explosive, there are various other devices contained in the other pockets of the utility belt including GPS tracking markers, EMP mines, smoke capsules and tear gas capsules, night vision goggles in compact form are incorporated into the domino mask and the pockets on the inside of the cloak should provide a place to store the weaponry already in your possession, the belt buckle is hollow and contains miniaturised flares and detonators for the C4, as you can see I have also taken the liberty of having a tazer version of your kunai made-."

"Good things to have," Clark noted.

Tayuya became a little less than impressed as she read the last part though.

"P.S. The bodysuit is lined with kevlar, given your track record against firearms this seemed like a good idea," Tayuya's eyes narrowed slightly and her mouth tightened "fucking smartass."

"He can be sometimes," Clark confirmed.

"Well in any case this stuff will be useful," Tayuya decided "for now at least, I don't know if I'll keep wearing it once this is over though."

"Why not?" Clark asked perplexed.

"I'll wear it for now out of necessity," Tayuya replied "but wearing it on a regular basis long term? I don't know if I'm worthy."


	11. Chapter 11

**Smallville/Naruto**

**Secrets**

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or Naruto; Smallville is owned by Warner Brothers television and its creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is based on 'Superman' created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Manga series' Naruto' is owned by its creator Masashi Kishimoto and all characters featured in Naruto are the property of said author, all Smallville characters are owned by DC comics.

This work is strictly for Fan enjoyment and no profit is derived from it.

Fanfiction Written by; Dean Donnell.

**Chapter ****11**

The first thing that both Clark and Tayuya were aware of as they came out of super speed in the lobby of the S.T.A.R. Labs building was that something felt off, and it wasn't the fact that the lobby was empty, Emil had agreed to make sure of that in advance.

There was just and air of foreboding about the place for some reason.

The two met up with Emil Hamilton as he came out to meet them, he recognised Clark immediately, however he failed to recognise Tayuya due to the fact that she was now dressed in the Nightsong costume that Oliver had made for her.

"Mr Kent, it's good to see you," Emil greeted warmly "and who's this with you?"

"It's me Doctor," Tayuya replied as she momentarily slipped off her mask, her voice slightly deepened and roughened by the voice modulator built into the hood of her black cloak, then she switched off the voice modulator and continued in her normal voice "recognise me now?"

"Oh it' you T-."

"Shhh," Tayuya replied as she slipped her mask back on and turned on her voice modulator again "remember to call me Nightsong when I'm in this costume okay?"

"Sorry," Emil replied as he realised his error "I'll remember to do that in future Nightsong."

"Thank you," Tayuya replied with a nod "I'll go and play bodyguard for Chloe, where is she working?"

"Fifth floor," Emil replied "north wing, second workstation on the right."

"Thanks," Tayuya replied as she summoned her ninja speed and ran up the stairs at a speed that no normal person could match, though not as fast as a kryptonian.

"Okay," Clark surmised as he turned in Emil's direction "now we need to get to the dimensional transporter lab."

As soon as Tayuya entered the area where Chloe was supposed to be working she quickly realised where her sense of foreboding had come from, Chloe was lying face down on the floor unconscious, and some tall woman with curly dark hair and glasses was at the workstation Chloe was apparently meant to be working at, a retractable baton sitting on the desk beside her.

Glancing at the screen of the computer Tayuya caught sight of what could only be the incriminating photo of Lionel Luthor's murder, it clearly depicted one person pushing another out of a window, she saw the woman bring up a file folder on the screen and right click with the mouse on a file icon, no doubt about to delete the file.

That was as far as the woman got because in the next instant a tazer kunai struck her between the shoulder blades and left her slumped over the keyboard shuddering violently from the electric shock, moving quickly Tayuya walked up and pushed her onto the floor.

A quick check confirmed that whoever this was hadn't managed to delete the file yet.

_Good, _Tayuya though, breathing a sigh of relief as she did _we can still nail Lex, I better make sure Chloe's okay though._

A moment later Chloe began to stir.

"You okay Chlo?" Tayuya asked, removing her mask and hood as the faux blonde pulled herself off of the floor into a sitting position with Tayuya's help.

"Apart from my splitting headache," Chloe replied "remind me to invest in a crash helmet next time I take on one of Lex's fembots."

"At least she didn't get the file," Tayuya replied as she gestured to the woman in question "what she did get was a tazer between the shoulder blades, she's takin' a little nap now."

"Good," Chloe nodded "she's only stunned right?"

"Still alive," Tayuya assured her "I don't kill anymore Chlo, you know that, when she wakes up she may wish I did though."

"That's good," Chloe replied, nursing her throbbing head as she carefully got up and began applying her healing powers to the bump where she had been struck "I do know that Tayu, but I also know that old habits die hard."

"Yeah well this one's had a nuke dropped on it," Tayuya replied solemnly "are you gonna be all right for a while Chlo? I need to take our uninvited guest where she can't cause you any more trouble for a while."

"I can hold out," Chloe replied with a nod.

"I won't be long," Tayuya promised as she put her mask and hood back on, picked up the Luthorcorp flunky and headed for a window.

As soon as she was out of S.T.A.R. Labs Tayuya wasted no time putting several city blocks between herself and the place, hopping from building to building as she did before touching down in a back alley and depositing her unwilling passenger there, she was just about to leave when she stopped and looked back, a wicked smirk found it's way onto her lips as an idea occurred to her.

_Oh I couldn't, _Tayuya thought to herself as she chuckled at the thought _that'd be just too mean._

Turning away to leave Tayuya stopped again.

_Ah what the hell, why not, _she decided _might teach the bitch a lesson._

As Gina woke up the first thing she was aware of was that she was lying on solid concrete on her back in a back alley, the next thing she noticed was that she was lying there in just her bra and panties.

"What the hell?" Gina exclaimed as she sat up abruptly "where's my clothes?"

The next thing Gina became aware of was that a hand written note was taped to her chest, pulling it off she read it.

'Have fun getting your clothes back bitch

Regards; Nightsong'

Looking up Gina soon realised where her clothes were, strung up twenty feet up in the air by a length of thin wire.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me," Gina complained.


End file.
